Sherwett Elrashidi
Effect of social media on mental health of teenagers
On the website article, “Teens and social media use: What’s the impact?”, published by the Mayo Clinic, it talks about the benefits and harms of social media. Before giving a summary of this article, with further research I was able to investigate the creditability of this author. They are an organization that has more than 65,000 staff, from physicians to scientists. They believe in the importance of US health care, and that it needs to be reformed to ensure access to quality and make it affordable for patients. The people that they hire each holds a key role in reform. The article talks about how social media allows students to make an online identity, and build communications and connections with other people, which can be considered a benefit. The article also talks about how it can lead to bullying, peer pressure, all of which can lead to extremely poor mental health.
A newspaper called “Facebook aware of Instagram’s harmful effect on teenage girls”, published by Damien Gayle, who is with the Guardian Newspapers, talks about how Facebook has had an ongoing investigation for 2 years on Instagram claiming that the app makes body issues worse for teenage girls, and how it effects the state of mind that they are in. Damien Gayle is a news journalist with almost a decade’s worth of experience. The Guardian newspaper is a British newspaper that has been founded from 1821. This article is a credible source.
A magazine published by Benjamin Herold called “Teens’ Rising Social Media Use Is Not All Bad News” talks about how the use of social media is skyrocketing, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It also talks about how it makes teenagers feel better, and they don’t feel as lonely. This author is a credible source, he has been writing these magazines since 2013, and has worked with other big companies to publish his work.
The scholarly source “How the World Changed Social Media” is a book written by several different people. Their names are the following: Daniel Miller, Elisabetta Costa, Nell Haynes, Tom McDonald, Razvan Nicolescu, Jolynna Sinanan, Juliano Spyer, Shriram Venkatraman, Xinyuan Wang. To be more specific, this is a book, and in Chapter 13 called “Does social media make people happier?” is the focus of this essay. This source takes a more scientific route when it comes to this topic. This chapter begins off by talking about how people have different concepts of happiness, and how it’s hard to define the term of being happy. This is a creditable source, because it’s published by several different people who have experience in writing a book.
Audience and Tone
For the most part, the audience and tone of all 4 sources are somewhat the same. The audience would be people who are interested in seeing what the effects of social media on mental health of teenagers are. For the website, to be more specific, the audience might be parents. Social media can be something new for them, and parents might want to do some research to see what their child may be up to. The author of the website talks about ways to “Protect your teen” and how if “you think your teen is experiencing signs or symptoms of anxiety or depression related to social media use, talk to your child’s doctor” (Mayo Clinic). The newspaper audience would be people who are more familiar with social media, and use Facebook/Instagram in specific, and want to look more into this topic. The newspaper talks about how “Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression” (Damien Gayle). For the magazine the audience would also be people who would like to be more educated in this topic. After several surveys being done, the author found that “teenagers overall say using social media makes them feel less lonely, less depressed, and more confident” (Benjamin Herold). For the scholarly source, the audience would be people who want to see the scientific accept of this topic. In terms of studying the human behavior, and learning how the mind thinks, and just in general how people work. This can then make several connections to the topic given at hand. This source starts the chapter off by saying “For anthropologists, considering whether something makes people happy is a complicated if not impossible task” (Daniel Miller).
As for the tone, there is a very formal tone for all 4 articles. This is a common tone that is used in professional contexts. This helps establish the writers respect for their audience and can suggest how serious the writer is about this topic. The website is comparing both sides to this topic. The magazine does however focus of more of the good of social media, while the newspaper paper focuses more on the negatives of social media. The scholarly source is less specific and broader. It talks about social media and mental health in general, not towards a specific age, as the other articles did.
Purpose and Genre
The purpose for all 4 sources is to inform readers about the effect of social media on mental health of teenagers.
The website is based off a survey from recent years as stated, “A 2018 Pew Research Center survey of nearly 750 13- to 17-year-olds” (Mayo Clinic). The magazine is also based off a survey “national survey of 13- to 17-year-olds by the nonprofit Common-Sense Media” (Benjamin Herold). The magazine tends to focus more on the good of social media, and how it can be helpful. The newspaper is based off a research project that has been conducting. In fact, “ Facebook has kept internal research secret for two years that suggests its Instagram app makes body image issues worse for teenage girls” (Damien Gayle) . The scholarly source is written by a bunch of people, but the purpose remains the same throughout the book. The books says, “Individuals conceive of happiness in widely varying ways, often aligned with broader cultural ideals and value systems associated with class, religion, gender and age” (Daniel Miller). There can be several effects from social media, good or bad. People can find new people to be friends with which can help with mental health, or cyborg bullying can occur, leading to suicidal thoughts, and a poor state of mental health. These sources help identify the good and bad of social media and help inform people who may not be so educated in this topic.
The Guardian is a British daily newspaper, and the article specifically was published was written by one person. Towards the end of the article, it talked about how Facebook declined to comment on this topic, and just sent the Instagram head of public policy. This is different, since the other articles were strictly based off surveys. Education week is a magazine that talks about how the rise is use of social media can be a good thing. Mayo clinic made a website that compares both the benefits and the harms of social media, and how it can affect teenagers in many ways, and what to do if your teenager might need help. Both the magazine and the website are based off recent survey studies, from 2018-2020. The scholarly source is a book that is written by different people, and takes a different approach compared to the other articles. It is more scientific and isn’t as a specific as the other sources.
Medium and Stance
The medium for the website would be the internet. This website was found through the internet, and it was not published anywhere else. It can be shared to other social media platforms, but it was still be seen through the help of the internet. The newspaper would be found in a news article. It can be found in person, in stores, and you can buy it for a couple of dollars. The magazine, and scholarly source can be found in libraries and local bookstores. A specific place would be Barnes n Nobles, where they have not only a variety number of different topics and ideas, but different forms and ways these topics can be written in.
The authors stance for the website is neutral. This is because this article is just a comparison of the benefits and harms of social media. The author also gives a way in which you can get your child help, just in case something is wrong. The stance for the newspaper mainly focuses on the negatives of social media. With the investigation going on about Instagram, the article mainly talks about how it makes specifically teenage females feel worse about their body image. The magazine mainly focuses the positives of social media, and how it can create a support system for teenagers who feel like they may not have one anywhere else. The scholarly source mainly focuses on what it means to be happy, and how social media can specifically relate to that topic.
Timeframe and cultural expectations
The timeframe off all 4 sources is basically the same, occurring from the years of 2018-2020. This can be helpful, because these are very recent years, and can still be considered accurate. As for cultural expectations, the website, scholarly source, and magazine were written in the US, however, the newspaper is from the UK. The UK probably has different cultural expectations compared to the US. Thought the UK may be somewhat diverse, a big part of the US is the cultural diversity that we have. With a more diverse nation, many different cultures can come with it. Different languages, different race, ethnicities, and believes. This can affect what people think about this topic, for example some may view mental health as something that is not important, and others may not even allow their children to have social media in general.
Work citated
https://www-jstor-org.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/stable/j.ctt1g69z35.20?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=social+media&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dsocial%2Bmedia&ab_segments=0%2FSYC-6061%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A94f6af54103dd93742ca930954882f56&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
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